It's a Wild World
by and-chaos-reigned
Summary: Lily Evans' Hogwarts years. Who she loved, who she hated, what she did, and mostly, how she became Mrs. Potter and Harry's mum. Starts a little slow, but I swear it gets better fast!
1. At the Start: Prologue

**Disclaimer:** Shhh…. whatever you do, don't tell Rowling I stole her stuff.

**Prologue**

Joseph and Carolyn Evans waited nervously, perched on the edge of their couch and staring hard at the fireplace. Mr. Evans glanced down at the crumpled piece of parchment in his hand and read for the hundredth time the carefully scribed message written there:

_Dear Mr. and Mrs. Evans,_

_Congratulations on your daughter's acceptance into the finest school of witchcraft and wizardry in the country. We understand that this letter may come as quite a shock to you, and realize that you will have many questions to be answered before you can comfortably entrust your daughter's well being to our staff. As such, we have included a pre-addressed envelope with this notice. If you will kindly request and time and date for an appointment, (simply attach your reply to the provided owl), we will send a representative to your home to answer any questions you may have. The simplest, quickest method of travel available to us is of course by fire, so please be aware that your fireplace must be ready for use on the date of your requested appointment._

_Best wishes, _

_Minerva McGonagall_

Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress

Mr. Evans slowly got up and went to the hearth. He tentatively crouched down and peered up into the darkness of the chimney. Shaking his head, he drummed his fingers on the brick mantel and turned to his wife.

"Carolyn, this is ridiculous. We've discussed this too many times-"

"Joseph dear, we owe it to Lily to wait just a little longer."

"We're just being made fools of! If you think for one second that someone is going to pop out of that fireplace any minute now-"

Just then a whoosh of wind and a puff of soot burst from the hearth at his feet, and Mr. Evans practically scampered backwards, staring wide-eyed and open-mouthed at the figure now standing where he had been only a moment before. The apparition stood rubbing his head as he muttered to himself about odd fireplaces and ridiculously low mantels, obviously not suited for frequent travel.

Mrs. Evans rose graciously to her feet, managed a shaky smile, and advanced on the man holding out a hesitant hand. Did these people shake hands? All of a sudden the man burst into a fit of violent coughing, and Mrs. Evans stopped short. She looked wildly confused for a moment, and then seemed to come to her senses. Rushing to the kitchen, she produced a glass of water from the tap in no time, and handed it quickly to the strange man in her living room. On her way back from the sink she had noticed two small faces peering over the balcony of the entrance hall, but decidedly ignored them.

The small man at the fireplace downed the water, and finally looked up at the Evans, beaming at them through watering eyes. He was very, very short, but reached up with a firm hand to Mrs. Evans and said,

"Many thanks, Mrs. Evans. My name is Filius Flitwick, and I do apologize for the entrance."

"Carolyn, please," Mrs. Evans replied, shaking Flitwick's hand readily as she gathered her composure about her once again.

"Never mind about the entrance," Mr. Evans assured the man. "I must admit I was a bit skeptical about the travel-by-fire issue, but you seem to have managed it quite well!"

Filius Flitwick gave Mr. Evans a rather funny look, and replied, "Yes, well, I've had quite a bit of practice."

There was a moment of silence, and then Mrs. Evans, remembering the two pairs of listening ears on the stairs, suggested that they move out onto the patio to discuss things.

On the top stair of the Evans household, the youngest Evans daughter waited with baited breath throughout the entire exchange. She nearly cried out in frustration at her mother's suggestion, but was distracted by the loud "Hmph!" behind her, and turned to see her older sister stalk into her room and slam the door behind her. Lily sighed and retreated to her own room, which was noticeably lacking in windows facing the patio. Doomed to be kept from her fate another day longer, Lily decided that the only thing to take her mind off things was to read. Fortunately she had a good book on hand, and so missed Flitwick's retreat through the fireplace, along with the grim conversation held in the firelight of her living room, which lasted long into the night.

A/N: Hello everyone! So, the start of a story. I know it's a little boring, (alright, a LOT boring), but it's only the prologue. I wanted to kind of introduce the Evans' without just saying "this is Mrs. Evans, this is Mr. Evans"...but anyway, hopefully the story will pick up soon. ) As usual, now is my time to beg for reviews...this is my first real ff, except for a really stupid little oneshot piece of fluff, so I have no idea what I'm doing right and what I'm doing wrong. Any criticism would help! Thank you thank you, now go and review!


	2. Siriusly Speaking

CHAPTER 1: Siriusly Speaking

Lily was clutching the trolley handle so tightly her hands were beginning to ache. The platform at the station was buzzing with hurrying people, and Lily stood closer to her father as her mother searched hastily through her purse.

"I know I put it just here, darling, but I can't seem to find it…" Lily's stomach took yet another plunge. If her mother didn't hurry up and find that ticket, she was liable to miss the train altogether! What would they do to her if she didn't make it to school on time? Throw her out? Take away her wand?

"Oh here it is!" Mrs. Evans looked triumphant for a brief moment, and then she turned to her daughter in a most serious way. "Be sure you hold on to this, alright dear? Be careful Lily, please be careful, and write us about _every_thing. You know you can always tell us anything, don't you?"

"Mum, I'll be fine," Lily tried to reassure her mother. Lily felt anything but fine, but she most definitely didn't want her mother to start crying right here, where there could be other witches and wizards around. Mrs. Evans sniffed.

"I know dear. You'll do wonderfully of course." Lily's mother looked proudly down at her little girl. "A witch in the family!"

"It really is remarkable," Joseph Evans agreed. Petunia simply sulked even more, if that was possible.

"Well I er, better start…"

"Oh yes, yes, you'd better go dear, or you'll miss your train!"

"Don't forget what that Flitwit man said Lily, just do it at a run."

"Petunia dear, you won't see Lily until Christmas!"

"Oh. Yeah, well, have fun at the freak show."

"Petunia!"

"Leave it Carolyn- Study hard Lily, and be good."

"I will dad." Lily hugged her parents one last time, smiled fondly at her family, turned around, braced herself on the cart, pushed it as hard as she could into the side of the wall-

-and came out the other side, in the midst of a giant cloud of steam with a whistle ringing in the background and her future in front of her in the shape of a roaring red engine.

"Hey you! You with the trolley!" Lily jumped, forgetting for a moment that nearly everyone in sight had a trolley with them. But sure enough, the voice had been directed at her. A tall blonde boy was strutting towards her with a rather unpleasant expression on his face.

"Are you going to stand there all day?" he demanded.

"Sorry!" Lily practically squeaked. She hastily shoved her cart forward and stepped out of the way of the entrance to the platform. In her haste she pushed her cart too hard, and her trunk began to wobble on the trolley. She watched in horror as it toppled to the pavement at the boy's feet. The lid came open, and several jumpers, a pair of shoes, and a whole sheave of parchment paper came tumbling out. Lily immediately began dashing about picking things up, while the blonde boy watched her in cruel amusement.

"Finished yet?" he sneered. Lily felt a pang of injustice.

"I'm sorry," she said again, "but I don't exactly know what I'm doing."

"Aren't you parents here?" he inquired, looking as if this was the last thing in the world that her cared about.

"They can't come onto the platform," Lily replied, suddenly feeling smaller. "They're…"

"_Muggles_?" the boy snapped.

"Er, yes."

"Oh, well that explains it," the boy sneered, almost screeching derisively now. "Stupid mudblood filth scumming up our school…well, it's to be expected, what with the new management and all." The boy smirked to himself, obviously thinking himself very entertaining. "Have fun at Hogwarts," he spat, and swept off down the platform towards a large group of older boys. Lily stood starting in helpless shock at his retreat, wondering what had just happened. Just then another boy appeared next to her, holding one of her jumpers.

"Er, is this yours?" he asked, wrinkling his nose and holding out her jumper to her with two fingers. Suddenly Lily was mad.

"Yes, thank you, that's mine. And I don't know what _you_ have a problem with, but it's _just_ a jumper! And I'm _just_ trying to get on the stupid train, ok?" Her voice cracked on the last word, and the boy started and stared at her.

"Alright there kid, calm yourself. Can't a guy be friendly?"

Lily immediately regretted her outburst. She felt her face go seven different shades of red, and she bit her lip in embarrassment. "I'm so sorry," she offered. "It's just…I just…I was only trying to get on the train, and some boy decided to shout at me and so I dropped my things and then he said something very nasty, only I don't have any idea what he was going on about because I know absolutely _nothing_ anymore."

The boy's face softened. "You muggle-born?"

"If you mean are my parents non-magic, yes."

"Ah, well. That explains it then!"

"That's what _he_ said."

"Who?"

"That boy."

"What did he look like?"

"Oh, I dunno. Blonde hair, very tall, kind of…"

"Evil looking?"

Lily smiled uncertainly. "Er, well, yes. Sort of."

"Must've been Malfoy. I'm a Prewett, by the way. Fabian Prewett. You can't listen to a word that idiot says, he's all talk and no walk, if you know what I mean." The boy winked at her, and then bent to pick up a shoe from the ground. "Let's get you on the train though first, yeah? And then we can discuss the tragedies of tall blonde blokes who haven't got their heads screwed on properly." Slamming the lid to her trunk shut, he easily hefted it back onto Lily's trolley and took it from her, striding off towards the train. Lily hurried in his wake, grinning to herself. In an instant, her day had gone from very, very bad, to not looking quite so bad after all.

Once on the train the helpful boy left her to her own devices. Lily blamed it all on the very pretty brunette who had seemed to be eyeing him from her compartment, but she didn't really mind all that much. Now, alone again, she had to find her own compartment. She glanced in each as she passed, but every time she found them filled with laughing, talking students who very obviously knew each other and had been here before. Nowhere did she see another soul as lost as she felt.

After nearly ten compartments full of obnoxiously happy people, she finally found one with only one other occupant- a small, dark haired girl of about Lily's age deeply engrossed in a magazine. Lily braced herself, and pushed open the compartment door.

"Hi, do you mind if I sit in here? Everywhere else is pretty full."

"No! Gosh, I've been waiting for someone else to come in here already, I've been _so_ bored all by myself, and after all you can only read _Quidditch Weekly_ so many times before it all starts to sound the same." She rattled all this off while Lily made herself comfortable in the seat across from the raven-haired girl. "Hi, I'm Dorcas."

"I'm Lily. What's Quidditch?"

Dorcas looked at Lily like she'd just asked her if she had another head. "You're joking, right?"

Lily shook her head.

"Oh, wait. Are you like…a muggle-born or something?"

Lily grimaced. "You don't know how many people have asked me that already. But yeah, I am. Maybe I should get a sign, you think?"

Dorcas looked surprised, and then laughed. "Hey, yeah! That's funny! Anyway that's cool that you're like, from the other world, you know? I've never met a muggle."

Just then their compartment door slid open again, and a very good-looking boy with hair darker than Dorcas' poked his head in. "Mind if we join you ladies?" He asked with a wink. Dorcas raised an eyebrow at Lily, while Lily appraised the boy and his friend, who was standing out of the way behind him.

"I suppose," Lily replied with a smile, and joined Dorcas on her seat, leaving the other open for the boys.

"I'm Sirius," the first boy announced, plopping himself down on the seat and holding out his hand to Lily.

"Er, so was I."

"No, no, my _name's_ Sirius. Seriously."

It was Lily's turn to raise an eyebrow at Dorcas, and they both burst out laughing.

"What, you think my name is funny?"

"No, no, not at all!" Lily giggled.

"Seriously!" Dorcas added, attempting a straight face. Sirius pouted, and the second boy offered his hand in the moment of silence.

"I'm Remus. I only just met him myself, and I'm already sick of that joke."

"Seriously?" Lily asked innocently, and Remus laughed tiredly as Sirius pouted more. "Sorry Sirius, I'm just being mean now." She turned to Remus. "Are you both first years?"

"Yep," he answered. He had a kind face, although he looked much older than everyone else in the room. "What're your names?"

"Oh, sorry! I'm Dorcas, and this is Lily."

"The muggle-born," Lily added.

"Oh yeah, I forgot. We were going to make her a sign. What do you think?"

"I think I don't know the spell for that one yet, but when we do learn it, it'd look nice across your forehead." Remus grinned. Sirius snorted.

"Hey," Sirius said suddenly, his eyes having caught the cover of Dorcas' magazine. "Are you through with that?"

"Why?" Dorcas wanted to know.

"Well some bloke in Diagon Alley this morning was going on about Kent O'Malley. Said he busted his back in the match last week, and the healers are saying he might not be flying in the match against Hungary next week!"

Dorcas gasped. "But he _has_ to play! The only subs they've got for him are complete rubbish, and Hungary's _good_!"

"So there's nothing in there then?" Sirius asked, pointing to the magazine. Dorcas shook her head, and the two spent the rest of the train ride alternately brooding and devising ways to put the Hungarian seeker out of the match. Soon enough they got around to Ireland's team, and suddenly Remus was in on the discussion, dissecting each player's strengths and weaknesses just as passionately as Dorcas and Sirius. Lily listened with interest for a little while, but soon found that keeping up with the conversation took entirely too much effort, and retrieved her book from her bag and began reading.

When the train finally pulled up to its destination, the students were ushered off the train and down to the lakeshore. Lily managed to stick with Dorcas, Remus, and Sirius, and the four of them piled in a small boat waiting patiently for their arrival. It then propelled them across the water of its own will, and deposited them on the far side at the foot of the castle. Lily gazed in awe at the magnificent sight before her. If this was Hogwarts, then Lily could already tell that the coming months were going to be the best of her life. She was living in a _castle_!


	3. Beginnings

CHAPTER 2: Beginnings

"Black, Sirius," the deputy headmistress called out. Sirius smirked, and sauntered down the line to take his place on the stool. He placed the hat on his head, and Lily held her breath. There was a long silence- much longer than Barkley, Andrew, had received. Then the hat opened its wide brim and announced "Gryffindor!" to the crowd. There was a slight pause from the red and gold table, and then they cheered, although there was much muttering and whispering among the Gryffindors and Slytherins. Sirius paid them no mind, however, and strolled jauntily down to take his seat.

All assortments of students were now sorted into their separate houses, and an air of general nervousness pervaded the air. When Lily's name was called, she felt her stomach do a rather nasty turn, and she tried as hard as she could not to stumble as she walked to the stool. Placing the Sorting Hat upon her head, Lily squeezed her eyes shut in anxiousness.

"Ah," a voice said near her ear. "Hmm, let's see…no excess of ambition here, a little self-doubt regarding your ability to succeed- not Slytherin for you then dear…a real sense of loyalty, but a bit too strong-minded for a Hufflepuff…but what a good mind! Ah, a Ravenclaw perhaps? But no, let me see… Well, there is certainly bravery, and a great sense of justice- perhaps Gryffindor? Yes, yes, I think that would do quite nicely. Yes, it'll most definitely have to be GRYFFINDOR!"

Lily nearly fell off the stool in her haste to land the hat back in its place, and hurried to the Gryffindor table to sit beside Sirius. Across the table she saw Fabian grinning at her encouragingly, and she suddenly knew that this was indeed the house for her.

Now that her turn had come and gone, the sorting seemed to slow marginally. Lily stared in amazement at the enchanted ceiling as "Feldman, Lewis" was sorted into Ravenclaw, "Keller, Morgan" sat down at the Hufflepuff table, and, finally, "Remus, Lupin" and "Meadows, Dorcas" were deemed Gryffindors. Lily cheered as loudly as she could when her new friends were called, and found herself grinning madly as Dorcas came to sit next to her at the table. The sorting soon came to an end, and before she knew it the headmaster was welcoming them to the school, and dinner had arrived.

"Arrived" was perhaps too mild a word, as the appearance of dinner on the platters in front of her sent Lily toppling backwards off her seat in surprise. The boy sitting next to her, a skinny, be-speckled boy with unruly black hair turned in his seat next to Dorcas and stared down at Lily's new place on the floor.

"Sit much?" he asked, trying not to laugh.

Lily glared back. "I was _surprised_."

"She's muggle-born, didn't you know?" Sirius offered as she picked herself up.

"Er, no, actually," replied the boy, looking confused.

"Well she doesn't have her sign yet, so I suppose you're excused."

Lily rolled her eyes. "I'm James," the boy said casually, as if he didn't mind in the slightest that Sirius was making absolutely no sense. "Who're you?"

Lily didn't know whom exactly he was asking, as she, Sirius, and now Dorcas and Remus were staring at him, but Sirius wasted no time in answering. "I'm Sirius. Sirius Black."

The messy-haired boy's mouth fell open. "You're a _Black_? In Gryffindor?"

Sirius' eyes narrowed. "Yeah. You have a problem with that?"

James seemed to consider Sirius for a moment. Suddenly he pointed straight at Lily. "And you talk to her?"

Sirius looked mad now. "Yeah, I do."

James looked at Sirius. "Oh." He shrugged. "Ok then. Nice to you meet you." He took a bite of his dinner. Sirius did as well. And suddenly they were talking about Quidditch, and fast on their way to becoming friends. Lily would never understand boys.

Lily turned back to her dinner, and Fabian caught her eye across the table. "How d'you like Hogwarts, eh?"

Lily smiled. "I love it, so far. I suppose it doesn't matter that I can't even make it through my first meal without falling off of something." Fabian laughed, and a first-year girl next to him smiled hesitantly.

"This is Marlene," Fabian supplied, and Lily smiled warmly at the girl.

"Hi," Marlene said. She twisted her long brown ponytail in her hand nervously.

"Hey," Lily replied. "I'm Lily. This is Dorcas-" she said, turning to her friend.

"Eh?" Dorcas replied. "Sorry, what?"

"Marlene, Dorcas. Dorcas, Marlene."

"Oh, hi. Did you hear about O'Malley?"

Fabian nearly choked on his drink, but Marlene just shook her head. "O'Malley who?"

Sirius, James, Dorcas, and Fabian all turned as one to stare at her, and then promptly began proclaiming the wonderfulness of Kent O'Malley and his entire team.

"Don't worry," Lily said, "I still don't even know what Quidditch _is_." She said this last part very quietly.

"Oh!" Marlene exclaimed. "Well, I can tell you that much."

Lily smiled gratefully at her. At last, someone who didn't scoff at her lack of knowledge of the wizarding world! _This_, Lily thought to herself, _could be the start of a beautiful friendship…_

The next morning Lily set off for class with Marlene rather early in order to find their way to Charms on time. Two wrong turns and one trick step later, they took their seats in the classroom at a table with Dorcas and Jane, another first-year Gryffindor. Lily quickly discovered that the Charms professor was none other than the strange little man who had visited her house so long ago (or so it seemed), and that she liked him quite a lot. By the end of the period she had also discovered that she was quite good at Charms. Flitwick praised her so much that half the class began to get very annoyed, although Marlene just beamed, and laughed at her when she blushed.

Lily's second class of the day was History of Magic, and again she found a seat next to Marlene. Remus, Sirius, James, and another boy called Peter sat in the row behind them, and halfway through the lesson one of them decided it would be a good idea to flick bits of paper at the girls. She would have minded more, only the fact of the matter was that Professor Binns was boring, and despite her efforts to pay attention most of the material went in one ear and out the other. At least the boys provided some distraction.

At dinner that evening the table buzzed with excitement. The older students hung on each other's every word, as if the two months they had been apart had been the most interesting two months of their lives, and consequently had to be relayed with much detail and in the space of one dinner's conversation. The first years spoke with a bit of awe in their voices as they exchanged tales of their new lives at Hogwarts and their adventures therein.

Or else, they talked about Quidditch.

"Don't you all _ever_ run out of things to say about Quidditch?" Lily inquired incredulously of the three students sitting across from her. James rolled his eyes.

"You wouldn't understand. Wait until you see the first game- _then_ you'll talk." He paused for a moment. "I'm going to be on the team you know."

Lily raised an eyebrow. "Oh, really?"

"First years never make the teams!" Marlene clarified, shaking her head. Lily gave James a pointed look, and he scowled at their lack of support.

"We're _both_ going to be on the team, aren't we mate?" he asked, turning to Sirius. Sirius nodded, his mouth full of food.

"'Ourse. I-ma-bee-yer."

"Sorry?" Dorcas said, rather annoyed at having her rant to Sirius about some Chaser interrupted.

Sirius swallowed. "I said, of course, I'm a beater."

"Ah," Lily replied, still looking skeptical. "Well, good luck with that." With a shrug, she went back to her dinner.

A few weeks later, late at night in their dormitory, Lily and Marlene lay talking on Lily's bed as the other girls got ready to go to sleep. There were six of them in the room: Lily, Marlene, Dorcas, Jane, Charlotte, and Sophie. Of the six Lily was the only muggle-born, although Jane's father was a muggle. Lily and Marlene had been swapping stories about their separate worlds ever since they met, and Lily still enjoyed the look of pure shock on Marlene's face when she tried to explain things like cars or electricity. Occasionally Dorcas would join in with complaints about her brother's muggle girlfriend, but that never lasted long. Dorcas spent most of her time with the boys, and often Lily forgot that Dorcas had been her first friend at Hogwarts. Lily got on well enough with the others in her dormitory, although when Sophie and Charlotte got to giggling the most they received from the others was an eye roll.

"You know who I can't stand?" Lily asked suddenly.

"Hmm," Marlene replied, pretending to be indecisive. "Let's see- there's a few to choose from! We have Professor Mallard, because he can't teach defense to save his life, which is generally the purpose of the subject, or there's Avery from Slytherin just because he's got the IQ of a snail on drugs, or there's-"

"Marlene."

"Sorry."

"…"

"So? Which one is it?"

"It's _him_."

"…Um, sorry Lil, I don't read minds."

"_Potter_."

Marlene looked surprised. "Why? I mean I know he can get a little…"

"Egotistical?"

"Whoa, big word."

Lily grinned. "I know. Gideon used it the other day, talking about Fabian, so I went to look it up and found out that Fabian is _not_ egotistical, but James most certainly is."

"Meaning…"

"Meaning he's an idiot who thinks he's better than everyone else just because he's got that stupid broom of his. He's not even on the Quidditch team!"

"Speaking of which-" chimed in Dorcas.

"We weren't." Marlene confirmed.

"I know, but I just wanted to make sure you two remembered about the game tomorrow. You _are_ going, aren't you?"

"Of course," Lily replied. "Er, what time is it again?"

"Nine o'clock sharp!" Dorcas announced happily.

"We'll be there," Marlene assured her, rolling off Lily's bed. Climbing into her own, she waited until Dorcas was out of earshot to whisper, "Quidditch match tomorrow? First I've heard…"

"Yes, I don't think she mentioned it more than once. Or twice."

"Or ten, or sixty-two times." The two girls laughed as Lily blew out the candle on the nightstand. Soon Charlotte came out of the bathroom and blew out her own, the last light, and the six girls drifted peacefully off to sleep.

"Ladies and gentlewizards, witches and blokes! Welcome to your first annual Hogwarts Quidditch game! It's a perfect day to start off the season, and we've got two particularly smashing teams suited up for today's match. We welcome to the pitch the finest players in canary yellow around, the Hufflepuff team! They've lost a couple of valuable players from last year's class of course, but I think we can safely say they've made up for the loss with two spectacular chasers joining up from their fourth year…"

"Can't you budge over Sirius? We're going to fall off the stands here!" Lily was wedged tightly between Dorcas and Remus, but Marlene had only Dorcas on one side and the aisle on the other, and was in danger of being toppled off her seat. Somehow Lily had gotten stuck next to the boys, and while she liked Remus well enough, and she could put up with Sirius, James was just down the row and kept shouting annoying, absurdly loud things in her direction. Admittedly, everyone else was getting into the game too, but he didn't have to be so… Potter-ish about it. Oh, how she hated that boy. When she wasn't biting her nails in anticipation (however much she and Marlene had teased Dorcas about Quidditch, Lily had to admit it as a little exciting), she was doing her best to ignore James. It was making the game go very slowly.

"We've come to a tight situation here, with Gryffindor leading a close 70-60… but wait! Is that…Yes, it is! I believe Thomas has finally seen the snitch!"

"That's good, isn't it?" Lily whispered as quietly as possible in Marlene's ear, leaning cautiously around Dorcas.

"When the snitch is caught, the game ends. On a day like this, when you can't feel your fingers anymore from the cold, that is a very good thing."

Lily watched in anxious silence as the Hufflepuff seeker raced across the pitch. Following close behind was Andrews, the seeker for Gryffindor, and next to her Dorcas was going red in the face from suspense. Suddenly Thomas put on a burst of speed and shot ahead to grab the snitch out of thin air. Lily stood frozen for a second, and then let a yell break from her. How unfair!

"That's not fair!" She heard Potter yell from the other side of Sirius, and Lily quickly checked her emotions. Of course it was _fair_, it just wasn't what she'd wanted to happen.

Dorcas turned to Lily looking stricken. "That was so short! And I thought for sure we could beat Hufflepuff! I mean, they're the _Badgers_!" She looked slightly stunned, so Lily smiled at her reassuringly as the boys filed glumly out of the stands around them.

"It was only the first game, Dorcas. There'll be others! Besides, I bet our team was just…luring everyone into a false sense of security. They're just- waiting for the next match! We play Slytherin next, right?"

James suddenly turned around on the stairs. "Yeah, we'll get those fat Hufflepuffs back for this, don't worry."

"Potter, it's a _game_. They're supposed to try and win! You can't go getting mad at them because they played the game better than us."

"They don't deserve to win, Evans. You know we're better. At least, we would be, if they had some decent Chasers…"

"Oh and you qualify as decent, do you?"

"I'd say I'm more brilliant than decent, but anything's better than what we have now."

Lily glared. "You are so egotistical, Potter!" And with that, Lily marched off past him down the stairs. Marlene glanced apologetically at Remus, who stood there looking surprised, and followed.

_Dear Mum and Dad,_

You wouldn't believe all the stuff I've been learning! Yesterday in Potions we made a potion (surprise!) that makes you not be able to stop laughing. We each got to taste a little bit, and by the end of the period me and Marlene and Jane were crying because we were laughing so much! And the other day, guess who I met- a ghost! A real, live ghost! Well, not really live, but you know. Anyway Dorcas said they're all over the castle, but I'd never seen them before. There's also a giant man that helps around the castle, who's called Hagar or something like that, and he's really nice. The other day Marlene got stuck in the mud outside Herbology, and he just came along and lifted her right out! It was pretty funny. I miss some things here, like going to the movies and listening to music, but I love Hogwarts. How is everybody at home? Does Petunia like high school? Tell Missy I said hi!

_Love, _

_Lily_

_P.S. Dad, the book is called Hogwarts, A History. It's fantastic, and I know you love to read, so maybe this will fill you in on Hogwarts a little bit. I do need it back eventually, as it's not mine, but I thought you might like to see it. _

Dear Lily,

Hello darling! It was so good to hear from you! It gets so quiet around here without you, and even Emma misses you. She meowed at your door all night for the first week after you left, but I think she's just taken to pining now. Petunia loves her new school, and talks about her new friends all the time.

Hogwarts sounds fascinating! Daddy had been holed up in his study with your book now for three days, and he keeps popping out to read bits and pieces of it to Petunia and I. I can't picture any of it dear; it sounds almost unreal. But hopefully some day we'll get to see it all.

Missy called twice last week, wanting to know where you were. We did tell her about boarding school, but I don't think she understands that you're not here. Poor girl!

How are your classes? Are they hard? Which is your favorite? Are your teachers nice? How are all the girls doing? Marlene sounds like a sweet girl, and the others sound like fun as well. Are the boys in your year nice? What do you do in your free time? Is the food good? We hope you're getting enough to eat!

Well, that seems like enough questions for now. We know you're busy, but as always we love to hear from you. Write back soon!

Love always,

Mum and Dad.

P.S. Good news! Emma's having kittens! She should be ready just before for Christmas, so hopefully when you get home there'll be a new batch of baby kittens around the house! If you like you can even take one with you to Hogwarts- I think it said in your letter that you were allowed a pet, is that right? We'll let you have first pick, of course. See you then darling, and be good!

A/N: Hello again! Sorry for the wait! Hopefully it won't usually be this long in between chapters, but I've been busy lately.

Ok. I want to apologize now for any grammar or spelling mistakes I might make- I try to proof read, but I'm not the best speller and my grammar's crap. Feel free to point things out though! And also, about the British thing…I'm American. I don't speak British. I'll do my best to leave out blatantly American expressions, but I have a feeling if I try to use too many British phrases and things I'll just make myself look stupid.

So, there you have it. Thank you a million times over to my few reviewers! It means so much to me! Again, if you do read, pleeaase review. It's only polite, lol. Plus, if you review, I do my best to go and read your stories and review them. So, bonus! ) Happy fall to everyone!


	4. Thicker Than Water

CHAPTER 3: Thicker Than Water

Lily Evans had never had many friends. She had befriended a classmate named Missy when she was nine, and had occasionally been invited to the birthday parties of some of the other girls her age, but she had to admit to herself that she had hardly known what a real friend was until now.

A friend is someone you can trust. A friend is someone who is always on your side; only when they aren't, it ends up being because you were being downright stupid in the first place. A friend is someone who listens to your rants and raves, and then calmly changes the subject when you've fully vented. A friend knows of your most shameful moments, and loves you still. A friend is someone who wakes you up when class ends in History of Magic, instead of leaving you there like some people might. A friend is someone who saves breakfast for you when you sleep through that, too.

A friend is someone you don't want to leave when it comes time to go home for Christmas break. And Lily didn't want to leave her friends.

"Have you got everything?" Marlene asked for the third time.

"I've got everything, and so have you," Lily answered for the second. "And so has Dorcas, and Jane, and Professor Dumbledore too, I imagine."

"He doesn't go home for Christmas," Marlene said absently, scanning the contents of her trunk carefully. "Ok. I think I've got everything."

Lily rolled her eyes. "Come on, let's go down to the common room." The two girls made their way downstairs, where half their house had congregated to linger by the fire and discuss Christmas and New Years plans. Over in a corner a group of large, maroon chairs held Remus, James, Peter, Dorcas, and Sirius, with the latter looking very morose.

"Why so down, Sirius?" Marlene asked as the girls approached their group.

"Yeah, it's almost Christmas!" Lily added.

When Sirius didn't say anything, Remus spoke up. "He's not happy about going home."

"But why?" asked Lily, looking horrified. "You'll be with your family for Christmas!"

"Yes, that should be grand," Sirius replied dully.

"He doesn't get on well with his family," James added.

"Yes, but it's _Christmas_," Lily repeated, as though this fixed everything. "I mean my sister and I don't get on well sometimes either, but we can manage to ignore each other for Christmas, at least."

Sirius shook his head and sighed, as though he'd already explained himself several times. "It's my whole family though. They're purebloods, and they like it that way. When they found out I got in Gryffindor, they got really mad."

Marlene's expression cleared, but Lily still looked confused. "I don't get it," she stated. Marlene shook her head. "Some wizard families, pureblood families, which means they've never married muggles, think that all wizard blood should be kept… pure." Marlene frowned. "Salazar Slytherin was the only one of the founders who thought that only purebloods should be let into Hogwarts."

"My family's always been in Slytherin," Sirius said. "I don't quite agree with all the pureblood rubbish though, and what with me being in Gryffindor…well, I haven't been getting a lot of letters from home lately."

"But that's awful!" Lily cried.

"A lot of people think that way- more than you'd like to think," Remus told her. "Some people will just always be prejudiced, because that's what they've been brought up to believe." He looked absolutely disgusted at the thought. "There're just too many pureblood families around to do anything about it- the Lestranges, the Malfoys, the Prewetts, even the Blacks and the Potters." Lily looked at James in surprise.

"My family would never go in for all that though!" He exclaimed. " _Some_ pureblood families aren't total berks."

Sirius looked furious. "Yeah, well, bully for you Potter." And with that he leaped up from his seat and stormed up the stairs to the boys' dormitory. Peter sighed and went off after him, and Lily glared at James.

"Nice going," she scowled. James opened his mouth to respond, but just then Cecil Adams, a prefect, appeared behind them barking at everyone to get going. Remus went off to tell Peter, and James waited in his chair. The three girls followed the herd of Gryffindors down to the main hall and out onto the grounds, where snow-covered carriages waited to take them to the station. None of them spoke much, least of all Lily, as they had all been given something rather serious to think about.

Lily burst through the platform wall in muggle London, and immediately heard her mother's cry. "Lily!" Lily's eyes scanned the crowd for her family, and found her parents striding towards her- practically jogging.

"Mum! Dad!" It took two seconds for her to meet them, and then she was wrapped securely in her mother's arms, and she promptly forgot all about Hogwarts. Her mother let go of Lily reluctantly only so her father could have a hug, and then she firmly linked arms with her daughter. Beaming down at her, she squeezed Lily's arm again. "Darling, we've missed you _so_ much!"

Lily laughed. "Me too, mum. I've missed you a lot." She paused, looking to her father. "Where's Petunia?"

Suddenly her father looked awkward. "She, er, couldn't come. Wasn't feeling well, so we thought we'd better have her stay home." He looked almost guilty about something. "Let's get your things in the car, and we'll go home and see her, shall we?"

When the Evans' pulled up to their house on Cricket Street, Lily felt she had never seen a more welcoming sight. Before the car even stopped moving she was out of her seat and dashing up the snowy lawn to the front door, and, opening the door wide, she stuck her head in and hollered, "Petuuunia!" There was no answer. Behind her Lily's parents were slowly getting out of the car and trudging after her. "Hello?" she called, stepping into the front hall. She gazed up fondly at the second floor where she knew her very own bedroom awaited her. At the top of the stairs, Petunia appeared.

For a moment their eyes met, and Lily knew everything was going to be just the same as always. There had been a tiny part of her that had worried, but now it was swallowed up by her relief at seeing her sister again after so long. Then Petunia spoke. "Oh. It's you," she sighed, looking as if she'd been called away from something very important. Sure enough, she held the telephone in her hand. "Happy Christmas," she said with false enthusiasm. Lily knit her brow and watched her sister disappear back into her room. Lily turned to her parents standing in the doorway.

"What's wrong with her?" she asked, smiling uncertainly. Her parents exchanged a glance.

Her mother shut the front door behind her, and together the three began to walk to the kitchen. "Petunia's been rather…different, lately." Her mother paused. "She's become a bit wrapped up in her school, and her friends of course- she's made so many wonderful new friends!" her mother announced, trying terribly hard to look cheerful, "but I'm afraid…I'm afraid it's made her a little… irritable."

Mr. Evans was watching Lily. "Don't worry though, love. I'm sure now that you're home she'll cheer up a bit. But right now we want to hear all about your school."

Lily smiled up at him. "Alright. But first-"

"Yes?" her mother asked.

"What's for dinner?"

Lily discovered very quickly that no matter how eager her parents were to hear about Hogwarts, and however eager she was to tell them, there was simply too much to say. There was no way she could describe each person she had met, and yet whenever a new name came up in a story her parents insisted on hearing about the individual. Lily grew more and more frustrated in her explanations. When she began trying to tell them about Quidditch, something she never pictured herself becoming very passionate about, she could watch them try to hide their utter confusion for only a few minutes before giving up completely.

"Never mind dad. Maybe I'll find a book on it, and send it to you."

Petunia was the polar opposite of her parents. She showed no interest whatsoever in hearing about Lily's world, and refused to enter into any conversation concerning her own. For the first few days of vacation Lily hardly ever saw her sister, as she was constantly out with friends or in her room talking with them on the phone. Only once in a week did she sit down with the family for dinner, and that was on Christmas Day. Lily fully intended to use this little time she had to get completely caught up with her sister. She still held out a small hope that Petunia hadn't completely changed.

"Pass the gravy, would you Dad? Petunia, who were you talking with on the phone?"

Petunia never averted her eyes from her plate, where she was determinedly cutting up her chicken. "James," she said shortly.

"Oh! There's a James at Hogwarts, only I don't think he's very nice some of the time. Is your James a boy at your school?"

"Yes."

"Are you having any of your friends over today?" Lily asked brightly.

"_No_," Petunia growled, but Lily could not be deterred.

"Do we _ever_ get to meet any of them?" Lily teased. "I mean I keep hearing what-his-face's name…Vernon? But I don't even know what he looks like!"

Petunia's hold on her knife was positively deadly now. "I _don't_ think you would like him," she replied forcefully.

"Oh, well, there's plenty of people at Hogwarts I don't like. Have I told you about our Potions teacher?"

Petunia's knife clattered to her plate. She turned to Lily looking disbelieving and disgusted. "_Potions_?" she jeered. "You have a class to brew _potions_?"

Lily could no longer ignore her sister's disapproval. "Er, yes," she replied, biting her lip. She suddenly noticed how quiet the table had gone. "We, erm, did one the other day that made Remus howl like a wolf. He really didn't like that one, but we all thought it was quite…er…" Lily trailed off, seeing the revolted expression on Petunia's face.

"That's dis_gust_ing," Petunia sneered. "No one in their right minds, which I doubt half of you are, would ever create something that…unnatural!" She shrilled that last syllable as if it were the most repulsive swear word she could think of. "What kind of people _are_ they?" she implored, turning to her parents.

Lily's mother gaped. "Petunia!" her father snapped, glancing apprehensively at his wife. "There's no need to say those kinds of things about Lily's school. You're mother and I have heard from several of the teachers there, and Mr. Flitwit even came all the way to our house to speak with us, and he was a very kind, _normal_ man. There's no need to go on about them that way!"

_But he isn't normal_, Lily thought to herself. _He's a wizard. He does wonderful charms that make us all laugh and do perfectly helpful, clever things, but you would hate them all, Petunia. And his name is _Professor_ Flitwick. _Lily noticed that her family was staring at her.

"Daddy," she began. "Erm…may I be excused?"

She never asked that. They had always finished dinner as a family, especially on Christmas. Mr. Evans was slightly taken aback.

"Well, er, yes, I suppose, if you're finished," he replied desperately. Mrs. Evans was still watching the scene silently with a horrified fascination, and Petunia has simply gone back to furiously hacking at her food and refusing to look at anyone. Lily had never seen her family this way before. Slowly, cautiously, as if waiting for something to explode, Lily picked up her plate and her glass and retreated from the room. She put her plate in the sink, and trudged upstairs to her room. She paused for a moment at the top of the stairs, and heard muffled whispering issuing from the dining room. She went into her room, and shut the door. She went to the end of her bed and sat on the floor, drawing her knees up to her chest and resting her chin on them. There in front of her, on a low shelf of her bureau, was a picture she had almost forgotten about. She was only about seven or so in the photo, and she was at the park on the swing, laughing and letting her long red hair blow in the autumn breeze. Beside her on the next swing was her sister, ten at the time, laughing and looking straight into Lily's eyes. They had been sharing a joke. They had been equals, playmates. They had been friends. Lily stared hard at the picture, thinking of her sister downstairs, fuming in silence over something, Lily didn't know what, that Lily had done. Lily stared longer at the picture, but it nothing.

The rest of Christmas break flew by uneventfully. Lily and Petunia hardly spoke, and Mr. and Mrs. Evans were around less as well. Mr. Evans had gone back to work, while Mrs. Evans was so busy running errands and getting everything caught up after the holidays that she rarely had time to sit and talk with her youngest daughter. Lily rather thought that she couldn't bear to be in the house with such tension between her daughters, but didn't say anything. All in all, Lily was almost relieved when it came time to re-board the train to Hogwarts.

"Are you sure you've got everything?" Lily's mother asked again. Lily sighed, wondering if she would ever escape from worrisome packers. "Yes mum," she called over her shoulder as she lugged her things to the door. Mr. Evans had had to go to work early that morning, but had spent the entire previous night with his daughter in order to say a proper goodbye. Petunia was in her room.

"Mum, come _on_. We've only got twenty minutes to get to the station!"

"It's a good thing we live so close then, isn't it dear," her mother chirped busily, breezing past Lily and out the door. Lily shut the door behind her, and then stood impatiently watching her mother fumble for the house keys. She thought fondly of the _Alohamora_ charm Marlene had shown her when she'd accidentally locked herself in the girls' toilet the first week of school. Mrs. Evans had just gotten the key in the door when she stopped. "Oh, bother," she muttered. Taking the keys out and sticking her head back in the door, she called out "Petunia? Aren't you going to come?" Lily rolled her eyes.

"Can't", came the muffled reply. "Doing a paper for history!" Lily thought as much. Her mother sighed, looking forlorn, locked the door, and got in the car. She said very little until Lily was ready to run onto the platform.

"Lily…"

"Yeah?"

"Lily, I know you and Petunia haven't been getting on well lately, but…"

"Mum-"

"But dear she only means well!"

Lily scoffed. "Does she?"

"I know it doesn't seem like it sometimes, but she really does love you. I can tell," Mrs. Evans insisted. _Can you?_ Lily thought. _I don't know if she does._

"Mum, I think we just… need some time. Maybe over summer holidays-"

"Don't you think you could write to her? Apologize?"

"Apologize?" Lily exclaimed. "For what? She'd the one who started being at idiot about it all-"

"Now Lily…"

"What, mum? You were there, you saw what happened!"

"But maybe if you did apologize, it would clear things over for now. Then there wouldn't be all this…tension."

Lily stared at her mother. She honestly didn't understand! She cared so much about her daughters getting along, that she hadn't considered the actual situation. What had happened? Lily wondered.

"Look mum, I've got to go. I'll see Petunia this summer."

Lily's mother looked devastated. "Lily dear, please…"

Lily shook her head. "I love you mum. Tell Dad goodbye again for me. I'll write you!" With that, Lily turned and ran through the wall, back into the world of magic. Stepping out of the way of the platform entrance, Lily breathed a sigh of relief. Here, she knew what she was doing. She knew who she would sit with on the long ride to school, and were she stood with everyone there. Somehow, things just weren't so complicated here. Was that wrong? They were her family, after all, the ones who were making everything so complicated. But then, she couldn't remember being this relieved to leave her friends at the beginning of the holiday. All she knew was that she was coming back to people and a place that made her feel more at ease than her own family did. She had always heard the expression that blood is thicker than water, but anymore…she thought of Sirius. She hoped things never got that bad between her and Petunia. Then she remembered the expression on Petunia's face when she'd told her she was going back to school in the morning- pure and utter relief.

Lily looked up and saw Dorcas flying towards her, trailing Charlotte and Sophie behind. Dorcas came barreling into her, chattering all the time about how _glad_ she was that everyone was back, and how _much_ she had to tell Lily! Lily grinned, catching Marlene's eye over Dorcas' shoulder, and rolling her eyes. Marlene stood beside Remus, who had just caught sight of Sirius and Peter and was waving enthusiastically over the crowd. She heard a loud laugh to her left and saw Gideon Prewett chatting up a pretty blonde second year. James came running toward Sirius, almost knocking over Marlene in the process. Ah, Hogwarts.

Lily was glad to have her friends back.


	5. Author's Note and An Apology

Dear Readers,

For anyone who has actually read this, and might possibly be looking for the next chapter, I'm sorry. You can yell at me if you'd like. I started this over the summer when I had endless time to write and imagine a life for Lily and co., and now, halfway through the school year, it's just simply not going to keep happening this way. So, this story is officially being cut.

Also, I was just reading some of my old favorite stories on here and discovered that the opening scene in my story is practically word for word from "A Lost Generation", a beautiful story that you all should read. I really, honestly didn't mean to do that, but I suppose it's a compliment to the author that I liked it so much that it stayed with me subconsciously all that time. I read it a long time ago.

One last thing. I may be posting little one-shots that I had written to fit in with the story line of "Wild World", but no new chapters. There are several scenes I had written before I actually began writing the story, which are readable material, so those might come up sometime. Hopefully you'll enjoy them! And again, I'm so sorry for cutting this off. I know I hate when an author does that, even when it's a mediocre story like this. ;-)

-Maria


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